June 2013 Newsletter

Newsletter 23 – June 2013

Hit Maker Headlines – May 2013

May was such a huge month we had to wait until June to rave about it.

In addition to another successful Hit Maker Tour mentoring clients at Pitchcon 2013 in Beverly Hills, California, we produced the very first “Hollywood Player Pitch Contest” in partnership with NATPE for the TV conference event.

More than 65 entrees were submitted for the contest, which were narrowed down to 25 semi-finalists.

Eight of the 25 semi-finalists were our clients.

Let’s repeat that: More than one-third of the semi-finalists in the pitch contest were show creators who we either had trained as part of our Tour, or through consultations. And remember, we have no connection to the judges, who were organized by NATPE and who didn’t know who our clients were. Our clients were just better prepared to razzle dazzle.
There were four finalists. Second place also went to one of our clients, John Bujak.

First place went to Charla Young, who soon became one of our clients (a TV Concept Evalution was one of her prizes) to take better advantage of the industry executive meetings that winning the contest had presented her. You’ll be amazed to hear about those meetings, contacts and other opportunities she has gathered since the event. We’ve got an update video from her at the end of this newsletter. Here’s the happy winner (right) with Jeanne and Mark.

In the meantime, sit back, and take a visual tour with us through Pitchcon 2013

SPOTLIGHT ON PITCHCON 2013

Here we are with the Hit Maker Tour to Pitchcon members for 2013 having our kickoff dinner at the Stinking Rose in Beverly Hills (so named because of the serious amounts of fresh garlic in all the dishes). There are obviously no vampires at this table, and somehow our breath didn’t scare away any pitch meetings. Everyone scored some major face time with execs.

Here’s our good friend and Tour member “Dr. J” (left in picture) on one of his speed pitches. These are done in a room with 50 execs and you have 10 minutes to pitch. Pitchcon registrants usually get in about two such pitches per session, but with our tips on how to work conferences before and during, our clients easily netted betweeen 6-8 pitches.

Here’s a unique moment: Hit Maker Tour member and client David Blemer (right in picture), is pitching former client David Lyons (with brochure), who is now a pitch-catcher as head of Bishop-Lyons Entertainment, which has several shows in development and first look deals with ITV and FOX Television.